Concert

Saxophonist Joshua Redman and pianist Brad Mehldau first performed together in Redman’s acclaimed quartet during the ’90s. In the decade and a half since, both Grammy Award– nominated musicians have reached international and critical acclaim while forging their own distinctive voices as modern jazz icons. The duo format fosters a new convergence for these friends to reunite for an intimate performance in which they can openly create music that swings and deeply connects to the spirit.

Student ensembles perform a series of afternoon and evening recitals, led by faculty members Dennis Cecere and Larry Watson. These end-of-semester performance finals will cover a range of styles, including Motown and soul.

5:00 p.m. Larry Watson's Stage Performance Workshop 1

7:00 p.m. Larry Watson's Stage Performance Workshop 2

Recitals will run about 45 minutes long. Performance times are subject to change, without notice.

The Modern Jazz Pilgrims explore contemporary jazz in ways that are at once engaging, highly skilled, and fun. The grooves are danceable, the melodies are playful and catchy, and the playing is first-rate at every level.

Composer/lyricist/author Kevin Bleau (Berklee Harmony Department faculty) presents act II of his musical comedy If You Want My Body, which was supported by a Faculty Fellowship in 2009. Performers include Berklee students, staff, faculty, and members of the Boston music and theater communities.

A story of powerful women: an overweight legal dynamo can’t find a man, while an overdramatic modern dancer is about to lose her studio. A vengeful witch promises to solve their problems by swapping their minds. In the end, they must confront their self-identities by living in each other’s bodies. Directed by David Reiffel.

Student ensembles perform a series of afternoon and evening recitals, led by faculty members Nancy Morris and Larry Watson. These end-of-semester performance finals will cover a range of styles, including contemporary Christian, and focus on stage performance.

1:30 p.m. Nancy Morris's Contemporary Christian

5:00 p.m. Larry Watson's Motown

7:00 p.m. Larry Watson's Foundations of Singing with Soul

Recitals will run about 45 minutes long. Performance times are subject to change, without notice.

Influenced by Latin music, jazz, cabaret, cinema scores, and more, Pink Martini brings melodies and rhythms from different parts of the world together to create a fabulously eclectic, modern sound. This special multi-denominational holiday concert features songs from the band's best-selling album, Joy to the World, alongside a myriad of seasonal selections. In the absence of the band's regular singer China Forbes, who is currently recovering from throat surgery, Pink Martini and band leader/pianist Thomas Lauderdale will feature world-renowned guest singer Storm Large, who Cape Cod Times describes "with the sexiness of a lounge singer and the pipes of someone who wouldn't be out of place at the Met, Large is the perfect leader-cum-pinup girl for Pink Martini."

Influenced by Latin music, jazz, cabaret, cinema scores, and more, Pink Martini brings melodies and rhythms from different parts of the world together to create a fabulously eclectic, modern sound. This special multi-denominational holiday concert features songs from the band's best-selling album, Joy to the World, alongside a myriad of seasonal selections. In the absence of the band's regular singer China Forbes, who is currently recovering from throat surgery, Pink Martini and band leader/pianist Thomas Lauderdale will feature world-renowned guest singer Storm Large, who Cape Cod Times describes "with the sexiness of a lounge singer and the pipes of someone who wouldn't be out of place at the Met, Large is the perfect leader-cum-pinup girl for Pink Martini."

A tribute to the music of Latin America. This concert will feature a select group of student composers, arrangers, and performers from a wide range of styles representing the music of different countries related to Latin culture, such as Puerto Rico, Cuba, Venezuela, the United States, Spain, Brazil, Argentina, and the Caribbean.

Juana Aguerreta was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She grew up surrounded by folkloric music, a style that influences most of her own compositions. She was very lucky to find at Berklee people who feel passionate about this music too, and with whom she will be performing one of her newest songs, "Camalote," with the air of an Argentinean zamba in a contemporary style.

Nuevas Almas (Francisco Viema)

Nuevas Almas is influenced by the Venezuelan joropo, a genre originally performed in the plains region of Venezuela. The original instruments used for joropo are harp, cuatro, maracas, and voice. The tune has also sections with culo'e puya drums, which are Afro-Venezuelan instruments performed at the parties of San Juan Bautista in the state of Miranda/Venezuela.

Numasbala

"Music is a weapon," as the saying goes, and this funk-reggae-rap-atack-a-ton band called Numasbala firmly stands behind that saying. Primarily concerned with spreading good vibes, screaming positive messages, challenging sterotypes, and questioning taboos about the world, the universe, and oneself, this Latin American band—often accompanied by people from the four corners of the world—will definitely shake your bones and make you run for the dance floor.

Victor Mota: Samba-Rock

Influenced by many styles, including Brazilian samba and pop-rock as well as American blues, funk, and pop, Victor Mota makes groovy pop with much expression and intensity. He brings strong arrangements for horn section but also acoustics for fingerstyle, resulting in a versatile wave that he calls Brazilian pop-rock with blues and funk influence. His inspiration comes from many artists, including Brazilians (like Djavan, Jorge Ben Jor, Seu Jorge, Lulu Santos) and also Americans and Europeans (like John Mayer, Jamie Cullum, James Morrison, Tower of Power, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and Jimi Hendrix).

Can't make it to the show? This event will stream live on Concert Window.

Admission:

$8 in advance (discount applied at checkout), $12 day of show, general admission

To mark the 10th anniversary of fado legend Amália Rodrigues’s death, Nuno Gonçalves of the Portuguese band the Gift was invited to reinterpret selections of Rodrigues’s vast catalogue and was given full liberty to choose the compositions and his collaborators and to create new arrangements. For this homage, Nuno created Amália Hoje with three of Portugal’s most well-known musicians: Sonia Tavares (the Gift), Fernando Ribeiro (Moonspell) and Paulo Praça (Plaza). They took nine fados immortalized by Amália Rodrigues and re-interpreted them with a contemporary approach. The resulting Amália Hoje has gone triple-platinum in Portugal and catapulted Hoje into the international arena.

Since meeting at the Alabama Institute for the Negro Blind in 1939, the Blind Boys of Alabama have thrilled audiences worldwide with their potent, impassioned renditions of gospel songs. Winners of five Grammy Awards, celebrated by the National Endowment for the Arts with several Lifetime Achievement Awards and inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame, they have attained the highest levels of achievement in a career that spans over 60 years and shows no signs of diminishing. The Blind Boys of Alabama send spirits soaring to dizzying heights with their foot-stomping, hand-clapping celebration.